For the past year I was looking for the most effective way to talk about traumatic nature of mental illness, trauma psychology, adverse childhood experience and what it does as well as my personal experience of living with the stigma of mental disability.
I tried to write for a local newspaper and sent my writings to several other places. On Our Own of Maryland created a workshop where C Frazer Smith told us how be a 20th century "typewriter age" journalist. I found that writing has a very limited reach in today's society; in comparison, the role of videography grows persistently in our lives.
I always enjoyed good journalism. The power of sharing experiences through an interview had always fascinated me. Last October I decided to launch my own YouTube channel: https://goo.gl/wCtpdv
Early on, I understood that YouTube videos need to have entertainment value and that I need to dilute my heavy mental health content with some lighter subjects. For this reason I made videos about my outdoor adventures, sustainable living/permaculture gardening projects, lifehacks and other subjects, loosely related to mental health and ACES.
Presently I am experiencing a small crisis because I don't know how to ask for money for my work.
I am disabled. Very little money is left from my disability pension after I pay all my bills. As many poor people, I often have to choose between things like getting a cavity filled in my tooth or an oil change in my car this month.
My 2013 Windows 8 computer is running very unreliably - it freezes periodically. I am not at the point where I can monetize my YouTube channel - I barely started creatign content.
I have a lot of raw footage (mental health advocacy and other content) that I could turn into Youtube videos. However editing process became very slow and I don't know how I can edit all this footage with the resources that I have.
If I had a magic 501(c)3 status, I could have a newer Windows 10 computer with the right specifications for videography donated to my cause in a blink of an eye.
However I don't have such status. Neither do I have the resources or connections to incorporate a non-profit right now. I am yet to prove to the world the importance of videography in mental health advocacy.
What would be the best way for me to raise funds and to continue my work as a mental health advocate?
I am not very employable due to the chronic pain that I experience. I tried selling soap and selling it for the cause locally. This idea did not bring me the funds to support my videography - it only paid for itself after five months.
Comments (1)